Selflessly gives Brown fourth consecutive Miss Grillo Stakes win

ELMONT, N.Y. – Though Selflessly got beat narrowly in her debut, her connections treated her as though she had won the race and pointed her and the filly that beat her, Jazzique, to Sunday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Miss Grillo Stakes at Belmont Park.

That turned out to be a wise decision as Selflessly turned the tables on her stablemate and won the Miss Grillo by three-quarters of a length over favored Crystalle. It was another three-quarters of a length back to Jazzique, who got third by a nose over Sparkling Sky.

The win gave trainer Chad Brown his eighth victory in the Miss Grillo going back to 2008. Brown has won four straight and seven of the last eight. The list of previous Miss Grillo winners includes Newspaperofrecord (2018), New Money Honey (2016), Lady Eli (2014), and Maram (2008), all of whom came back to win the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.

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“The race makes a lot of sense for us, it’s a division we like to participate in, and it’s right at our home track,” Brown said.

If Selflessly is to give Brown a fourth straight victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita on Nov. 1, she will have to be supplemented to the race by owner Seth Klarman for a $100,000 fee as the daughter of More Than Ready was not nominated to the Breeders’ Cup. She earned $110,000 in purse money for her Miss Grillo victory.

Breaking from the outside post under Javier Castellano, Selflessly ran a joint third down the backside outside of Jazzique while Wicked Title ran a half-mile in 48.84 seconds and six furlongs in 1:13.46, chased initially by Ava K’s Girl.

Selflessly made a wide move into the lane, confronted Wicked Title and Jazzique at the eighth pole, and gradually edged clear in the final sixteenth. Crystalle, last for the first three-quarters of a mile, rallied widest of all under Joel Rosario to get second.

Selflessly covered the 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.32 and returned $12.60 as the 5-1 co-third choice.

“It was our plan to warm them up good and put them in the race on the stretch-out,” Brown said. “They figured to be more forwardly placed coming out of 5 1/2 furlong races. I think both fillies got great trips, Selflessly was just a little better today.”

Brown said while Selflessly is likely to go on to the Breeders’ Cup, Jazzique is “unlikely.”

John Kimmel, the trainer of Crystalle, still has the Breeders’ Cup on his agenda as he felt the slow early pace hurt his filly on Sunday.

“The fractions were very pedestrian, she put in her classic kick, it was just a little tough running into a slow pace like that,” Kimmel said. “Another jump or two she was blowing by everybody.”

Following Jazzique in the order of finish were Sparkling Sky, English Breeze, My Sassy Sarah, Wicked Title, and Ava K’s Girl.